


The Iacon Legacy: Sidequests

by ntldr



Series: The Iacon Prophecy Series [5]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, M/M, Mech Preg (Transformers), Transformer Sparklings, barbarian au, war dread
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:34:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22999288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ntldr/pseuds/ntldr
Summary: Barbarian AU.Just like with Sidequests from "The Iacon Prophecy," the accompanying collection of side-stories with perspectives outside of Sideswipe's.
Relationships: Drift | Deadlock/Perceptor, Prowl/Sideswipe (Transformers), Springer/Sunstreaker
Series: The Iacon Prophecy Series [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/495778
Comments: 10
Kudos: 37





	The Iacon Legacy: Sidequests

**Author's Note:**

> I've decided to give "Iacon Legacy" it's own thread of Sidequest stories instead of updating "Iacon Prophecy's" to 1) not potentially spoil new readers who are reading right through Sidequests and accidentally find themselves in the middle of Legacy's plot when they're not done with Prophecy, and 2) give me a chance to update the tags to Legacy's story. I'm certain there are readers out there who liked Prophecy but aren't interested in Legacy, and splitting up Sidequests shouldn't be too interruptive to readers who are reading straight through. 
> 
> That being said though, if you get subscription updates, don't forget to hit the button for this story too! And thanks for being patient with me while I make sure future readers don't find themselves in the middle of the wrong story.
> 
> Let's start with immediately pushing the ratings tag.
> 
> Occurs sometimes after Sideswipe begins to carry and before the sparkling emerges.

Chapter 1: Blood

Wires were split and energon lines were opened from how hard the mech was pulling against his restraints, and yet he did not let up. Worn fingertips scrambled against the boulder he’d been tied to, digging into grooves made by countless sacrifices over the vorns, heels scraping on old stains that made the rock slippery.

His limbs had been pulled taunt. He had no hope of reaching the knots. And yet he tried.

They always tried.

The torches around him cast long, wavering shadows, illuminating the raised, flat boulder and the prisoner, but not frames of the dozens of red optics staring down at him in the surrounding darkness.

No one had named the mech. No one needed to. 

The sacrifice let out a frightened whine through his gag as a giant, silver mech melted out of the shadows and stalked towards him. His struggling became even more frantic, and just as vain. He could barely lift his torso away from the boulder, let alone slip out of the ropes.

He was strong. The Seekers had done their job well.

He was losing energon from his injuries though, both from his capture and from splitting his own lines from struggling so violently.

That would not do.

The sacrifice shrieked as his helm was grabbed by long, thick claws. His cry was cut off into a burst of static as the back of his helm was smacked against the boulder, dazing him and causing his frame to go limp. The clawed hand dropped the sacrifice’s helm and let it loll to the side, his optics spastically flashing as he tried to bring them back online.

A vorn ago, Megatron wouldn’t have had to be concerned with how much energon a sacrifice still had in his frame. A vorn ago, he had a tribe three times this size, constantly scouting and bringing him sacrifices as he demanded them.

A vorn ago, this should have been the end-stages of his plan.

Heat and needle-like pain surged through his lines.

Concentrate. His spark would become obsessed with revenge if he didn’t concentrate.

The revenge would be _sweeter_ if he didn’t give into his instincts at this moment.

The sacrifice had stopped moving, but was whimpering. Optical fluid cut ravines through the dirt on his faceplates, dribbling down to spatter and disappear on the rock. Instead of fighting, he now trembled as Megatron circled around the boulder, inspecting him, considering how best to utilize him.

When he came back into the mech’s view, he lifted up the mech’s chin with a single claw.

Megatron didn’t expect that the weaker tribes would have yet learned Cybertronian Standard. They still clung to the idea that they could live their lives as their tribes had for the last thousand vorns, and didn’t try to change themselves. Didn’t try to _evolve_ themselves.

It meant that Megatron didn’t have to waste his time trying to verbalize his demand that would make his sacrifices final moments less painful.

He showed him instead.

The sacrifice’s optics widened as Megatron’s chestplates split open and pulled aside. The tightly-bound mech posed no threat to Megatron at all, and he showed himself at his most vulnerable to him, his inner mechanisms no longer protected and bared for the sacrifice.

The orange light of the torches was overwhelmed by a blue glow as his spark chamber opened as well.

Hisses and growls that Megatron didn’t have in his youth emanated from his spark chamber as well. He’d been concerned the first time that he’d noticed this. Vorns later, he’d accepted as simply what he was now, and how powerful his spark had become.

The sacrifice, though, wailed against the gag and tried to pull back away from him, as if there was anywhere he could escape. 

He could _feel_ several of the Decepticons back away as well. New soldiers, those who didn’t realize _how_ Megatron had become so powerful, or hadn’t believed. But even more stood their ground, or better yet, leaned in, fascinated and yearning to control that same power.

His spark hissed again, crackling like oil tossed onto a fire. A warning about the integrity of the spark chamber appeared on his HUD, and he ignored it. The chamber only _felt_ like it would breach.

Letting go of the sacrifice’s chin, Megatron tapped a claw on the center of the closed chestplate heaving under him. 

His demand was clear. He would only ask once.

It took only seconds for the sacrifice to understand. When he did, _will_ returned to his limbs, and he shrieked and cried as he rocked his torso and thrashed violently, desperately trying to squirm away.

It was only a brave few that would willingly bare their spark to Megatron’s, even among those who willingly surrendered their essence towards a greater purpose. It made things easier.

Not that Megatron didn’t _enjoy_ his work.

The sacrifice’s vocalizations were cut off as Megatron grabbed his throat and squeezed. His optics bulged. Bound wrists tried to pull towards the silver claws, trying to fight to keep his airway open and stop his engine from overheating. Delicate mechanisms pressed up against the tips of Megatron’s claws, and he stroked them briefly, admiring them, before squeezing harder, keeping the mech’s neck completely within his control.

His free hand reached into his subspace pocket. The knife’s hilt fell comfortably into his palm.

As he pulled it out, a second Decepticon stepped up next to the sacrifice, red optic band glowing as he readied himself.

Tears flowed freely down the sacrifice’s face as the tip of the knife scratched a circle into the paint above his chestplate, marking out the approximation of where his spark chamber sat. When he was done, Megatron tapped the knife against the boulder, letting the paint chips fall off, then positioned himself as he raised it high above his head.

...What he wouldn’t do to have a certain _city-mech_ in this sacrifice’s place.

Heat and needles surged through his lines again, interrupting his focus.

He felt the sacrifice’s scream against his fingers just before the knife plunged.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

**Whispers.**

**Whispers in the dark.**

**Pinpricks of light appeared before him.**

**A starry night, where every star moved in any direction it willed. Some grouped together and surged like herds of mechanimals, some flew off into isolation, and some rotated around and around each other, locked in a perpetual dance.**

**All of them tried to repel away from Megatron.**

**But he did not enter this realm to be _denied._**

**The lights tried to fly away faster, terrified of the intruder. He followed, searching, stalking, _persisting._**

**A cluster of lights caught his attention, moving together, held to each other’s gravity with invisible threads. He felt the growl surging through him, _becoming_ him, as he hunted them.**

**Most were not worth his time as individuals. They cowered, realizing the futility of trying to escape from him, and he passed by them, leaving them behind in shadowed wakes that rattled them and made them scramble away once more.**

**His growl deepened the further he dove into the cluster.**

**He was looking for one in particular**

**One...one that was actually two.**

**As he neared it, another light hovering nearby tried to stop him. It barely entered his vicinity before it recoiled, overpowered without taking any of his attention, his focus on his target.**

**A pair of binary stars, perpetually circling each other, balancing each other forever.**

**Unlike the others, these did not retreat upon his approach. They were bright, and strong.**

**Not as strong as Megatron.**

**One of them moved in slower, smaller circles than the other, as if weighed down. Curious, Megatron quelled the rage of its _existence,_ and observed. The second light balanced it out, and the two continued their dance.**

**When it passed next, the first light accidentally revealed something within its halo. A _third_ star, tiny, barely able to be seen through the glow of the first.**

**And unlike its parent, this tiny star had no strength at all. It cowarded away from Megatron, but couldn’t escape the bigger star’s gravity to flee.**

**No strength...but in the gravity of those who were.**

**His growls turned _hungry._**

**He slipped closer, the binary stars unyielding, but also possessing no defense against him.**

**He reached...then shrieked as a supernova exploded in his face, knocking him away.**

_**“BEGONE!!”** _

**Ejected straight out of the cluster, Megatron tumbled backwards over and over, shooting past the lights that should be recoiling from _him,_ not the other way around. He howled in rage, righted himself, and tried to dive back into the lights, his revenge so close, _so close._**

**But each time he tried to re-enter the cluster, the supernova shot him backwards, keeping him at bay, while the lights flew off.**

**“...Prime…”**

**But the supernova never identified itself, or where it would appear from. Only that he knew when he was near the right cluster when he was shoved away from it.**

**The sacrifice’s power hadn’t been strong enough to enable him to control the realm like Prime could, much less challenge him.**

**...The sacrifice…**

**Idiot. Fool!**

**His instincts were getting the better of him, and he was wasting time!**

**Sneering and growling at the fading cluster, Megatron turned away, though he did not forget the tiny, vulnerable light hidden within the binary stars.**

**He had more important, immediate concerns right now.**

**He flew off in the opposite direction of the Prime. What he needed was as far from the influence of Prime as there could be.**

**There were few lights out here. What little he could see of the clusters twinkled out, and disappeared, until he was swimming through the loneliest section of the universe.**

**...The whispering grew louder the closer he came to his goal.**

**Until finally, after a vorn of nursing his wounds, of plotting, of dreaming...he was greeted by a voice even more powerful than a Prime’s.**

**There was not a single star here. Not even that of the presence that had flown with him all this time.**

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He was holding himself up away from the ground with shaking arms. The oily voice in his audials was far too close.

“You were offline for longer than usual, my liege.”

Megatron’s vents panted as he rushed to cool his systems. They should have been working by themselves in his “absence,” and yet it felt as if he’d been holding his vents closed for joors.

How was it that he had a frame powerful enough to rip mechs in half with his bare hands, and yet whenever he plunged like this and returned, he was reminded of how weak and _insignificant_ he was in comparison?!

That would soon change. Megatron gulped down the cool night air until he could speak again.

“The Core...we camped in the right place...we’re close…”

“As you’ve said before. Perhaps Unicron enjoys toying with you--”

Without him asking, Soundwave was at his side, inserting himself between Megatron and Starscream. Not a word was exchanged, besides Starscream grunting as he took a step back from the blue mech. That bought a few more seconds for Megatron to recollect himself, and shove himself to standing, hiding the shake in his frame.

Megatron and Soundwave had an...understanding.

“Has the sacrifice been drained?” he rasped.

He already knew the answer from Soundwave before Starscream answered. “Yes, my liege. Enough for five doses. A slow build to your army, I suppose, but--”

“But plenty enough for a display for our guests.”

Purple optics narrowed towards the tents erected just outside of the camp. Unlike the Decepticon’s tents, these were made out of _synthetic_ material, unable to be reused and hilariously difficult to repair, but the noble city-mechs prefered them for some reason.

“Take four of the doses to the city-mechs. Tell them to give it to their servants. Be ready to answer their questions...and tell them that their loyalty to me will be rewarded when they ask you for more.”

Starscream pursed his lips. “Are you certain? We’re building _their_ armies, not ours.”

“Oh, Starscream, they _are_ our armies.” The edges of Megatron’s mouth rose. “All of them, from all the different cities. All our armies.”

“All the armies of all the cities. Huh. And you plan to recruit them four mechs at a time?”

Megatron’s grin grew wider. “Not anymore. The last dose, Starscream?”

The Seeker hesitated. But when Megatron opened his hand imploringly, a small but deep and covered bowl was placed into his palm.

“Good. Now, go.”

As Starscream bowed out and retreated, leaving Megatron alone with Soundwave, and the graying frame still tied to the boulder. Megatron waited until he was certain no other Decepticons were standing nearby, then lowered his voice.

“I have only one regret. I knew you had plunged with me, but I did not see your light within the All-Spark any longer.”

Soundwave didn’t answer. His visor stayed on the bowl in Megatron’s hands.

Their _understanding_ hadn’t changed. After the vorns they’d spent together, nothing could change that now. Not even a moment of weakness from Megatron.

A moment of weakness that passed quickly.

“...Very well.” With a soft growl, Megatron pulled off the lid, then passed the bowl to Soundwave. “The Core isn’t far. This will be plenty enough to sustain you.”

Without hesitation, Soundwave grasped the bowl with both hands and lifted it. Just before it would touch his mask, the metal slid aside, giving him just enough time to drink what had once been a thick, blue, life-giving energon, now a brightly-glowing purple. It took him only a few gulps, and as soon as he was done, he dropped the bowl and closed his mask.

The bowl had only just hit the ground and shattered when his frame began to convulse.

Megatron watched him, unblinking, waiting for the convulsions to lessen into a less-violent shuttering, for him to be certain that Soundwave could still stand and hear his voice.

_“...Lead me to The Core.”_

And Soundwave, never one to disappoint Megatron, and now unable to conceive disobeying his puppet strings at all, took one jerky step forward, then another, then another, following the same whispers he and Megatron had heard moments ago.


End file.
